Google Doodle: Logo Marks 93rd Birthday of Dizzy Gillespie

Google quite often changes the doodle on its homepage to mark special occasions such as famous people’s birthdays, and we’ve seen some great ones over the past few months. This includes the 50th anniversary of The Flintstones and both Oscar Wilde and John Lennon’s birthdays.

As many of you will have already noticed, Google has changed its doodle again today to celebrate what would have been the 93rd birthday of American jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie, who according to Peter Hutchinson at telegraph.co.uk was born John Birks Gillespie on October 21st, 1917.

Dizzy Gillespie – who was well known for his puffed-out cheeks – was one of the major figures in the development of the bebop and modern styles of jazz. He was also involved in the development of Afro-Cuban jazz, which went on to become quite popular in the United States.

Gillespie is classed by many as one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time, recognizable by the angle in which he used to hold his trumpet. Dizzy, who died of pancreatic cancer in 1993, was a major influence on many other trumpeters including Fats Navarro and Miles Davis.